Well, now I've looked at all of the Mater shorts. For the most part, they were all enjoyable. Now I'll admit that there were some things that could've been cut from these shorts. Take for example, Mia & Tia.
These two while I wouldn't call them bad characters, there was no reason for them to appear in as many shorts as they did. Now don't get me wrong, they were given jobs or positions that made sense in the context of the shorts. Save for Moon Mater, I still can't figure what was going on there. Now there is at least two shorts where I didn't bring up their presence. Being Rescue Squad Mater and Air Mater but again, they weren't memorable there.
Again, you'll notice here that they have two different looks. It's nice I guess but in a way, them popping up almost felt reptitve. To be honest, the only time they were actually given something to do was in Mater Private Eye, where they were a part of the story. Another character that at times felt forced into these shorts but not as bad as the twins was McQueen. Because at least he was given something to do, no matter how odd it may have seemed. I realized that when I went over Air Mater, I forgot to talk about McQueen. Honestly, I wish that I could forget that short.
Apparently, in this short he was Lighting McQueen Hawk and he saved Mater. A nice touch and something different from McQueen getting hurt. Which I noticed in the later shorts, they seemed to be getting away from that. I don't know maybe it was just me but I found that gag to wear off rather fast. Still, it was a lot of fun and I do admit while I'm bit bummed at Owen Wilson didn't return to voice McQueen, Keith Ferguson delivered a great performance all around. Now out of the new characters created just for the shorts, I'd have to say that the two best were Mator and Big D.
I made my feelings on Mator quite clear when I went over his short and if you read my Cars Top 6, you'll recall that Big D was on that list because as I described as a great villain in the Cars World. Now let's go ahead and move onto some of the stuff I didn't mention during any of the reviews. Starting with the opening to each short. As you see each short, would open at the garage seen at the top of this article and Mater may be wearing something related to the short's theme or be acting in tune to the theme of the short. For example in Moon Mater, when the short opens, we see...
And there Mater would say a variation of his catchphrase for this series, "If I'm lyin', I'm cryin'" Which in turn I take to mean Mater knows these stories are true even if they do seem far fetched and most of them save for Tokyo Mater are shown to be true by the end of the short. It was a fun little touch there. Now I think that was the big thing I wanted to cover here. As promised, I'll also the episodes that never got made and in total there are 5 unfinished shorts. Hmm, technically 3 as one of them eventually became Time Travel Mater and another became Tokyo Mater. I'll link to their Pixar Wiki Pages so that you can read about them some more as at best, these will be brief.
The first one up is Runway Mater. Okay, if you couldn't figure out the premise by the name, in this one Mater would've been a fashion model. No, even I can't suspend my disbelief that far. Apparently Mater would've been approached by a French car and likes Mater's looks and asks to become a tire model. I don't know, it just sounds weird even for this series. Fun fact, McQueen wouldn't have been a part of Mater's story in this one.
Next up is Stunt Mater, in which Mater was apparently once a Hollywood Stunt Double This one would've been really different as instead waiting until the end of the short to prove that Mater's tale was true all along, it would've been shown to be true all along as McQueen is shown watching a film and Mater slows it down and shows McQueen where he is in the film and this would've been followed by a montage of Cars parodies of classics such as Rocky and Indy and even an Arnold film using Sven from the first film, who is Arnold in this world. I do have to say though that I love the reasoning behind why Mater stopped working as a stunt double. Because apparently Computer animation had taken over and in a way that reflects both the short being done with computer animation and the fact that a lot of big budget Hollywood films rely on CGI these days. I would actually like to see Pixar get this one made as I think it'd be a fun watch.
This next short is intriguing as this is one of the shorts that became a finished short but it's still a bit different from the end product. I give you Backwards to the Forwards. This short was meant to deal with time travel and was also going to be a parody/homage to Back to the Future. Yet, no DeLorean. I'll just go over the brief ideas in how this was going to reference BTTF. First off, Mater would've gone back to the 1950's Radiator Springs, Mater would've gotten his time travel ability after being struck by lighting in the same way Marty got home in the first film and at the end of the short, Mater would've flown away and it would've been shown that his tires are retractable like the DeLorean's. Personally, being a fan of the BTTF trilogy, I would've liked to seen this one get made but we eventually did get a time travelling short in Time Travel Mater. Still, a fun short and we actually have pictures for this short.
Next up is Mater Goes to the Car-Nival. This one would've been really different from how the others in that again Mater wouldn't have been telling a story and instead would've been towing a car as he sees cars having fun at a car-nival. (Sometime. the puns go too far but I still love them.) Mater would've dropped the car off and told he'd be right back as Mater takes in the car-nival. This sounds like it would have been a simple short that could've been filled with a montage here or there. I actually would like to see this short because I have a feeling that I would like it.
And finally, there is Import Mater. Now just like Backwards to the Forwards, this short eventually became Tokyo Mater. The biggest difference that I noticed in this short is that Mater would've started off the tale already being a drifter and apparently, he would've had his own night club as well. And it appears that McQueen would've been the rival in this short as McQueen and Mater would've been leaders of rival gangs and McQueen wanted Mater's gang. I don't know how I feel about that personally because that just seems wrong and the other big difference I noticed is that in the plot synopsis for this short, there is no mention of Tokyo whatsoever.
Now besides the shorts there is a set of die-cast cars based on the shorts and the films, I own a Cars 1 Lighting McQueen and a Cars 2 Mater. They're cute little collectibles, nothing more nothing less. There is also a video game based on the shorts from seasons 1 & 2 save for Heavy Metal Mater, Moon Mater, & Mater Private Eye.
Now as you can see, this is a Wii exclusive title. I haven't played it but I wouldn't mind trying it as the little bits I've seen of it does look fun.
At the end of the day, there is no denying that this is a franchise with these shorts and while I'll admit that they're flawed, I still found them enjoyable. Of course as I've mentioned prior, I like Cars and I think that aids in my enjoyment of these shorts. If you like Cars, you may like them as well. I know Cars isn't for everyone and not everyone will enjoy them but I can't deny that with a majority of these shorts I had a blast. I hope that you at least give these shorts a chance, if you think they sound like a fun time. Join me next week, when I officially close out Mater Mondays as I countdown my Top 6 Mater Designs.
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